Before I became a satirical blogger, I was a sardonic educator. In fact, I would still be employed in the field of education if not for losing a philosophical debate on the role of QA in post-secondary education. I was adamant that QA was an acronym for quality — not quantity — assurance. Then again, what should one expect from a system built on the teaching of three fundamental skills, commonly referred to as the Three R’s, only one of which actually begins with the letter ‘r?’

When did reading, writing, and arithmetic become readin’, rightin’, and ‘rithmatic? If I didn’t know better, I’d suspect it happened under our current government, given its spelling prowess. On the other hand, the Liberals do seem to have got it right when they declared WAR (writing, arithmetic, reading) on our educational system.

One would assume the collective wisdom of student, faculty and administration would have realized by now that the status quo is no longer viable. Unfortunately, the system will defend the status quo until someone forces a change and as Mark Twain once remarked, the only person who likes change is a wet baby. Things don’t change because we see the light. Things change because we feel the heat.

And even then, student-driven solutions tend to be short-term focused – at least until their graduation. Administrative solutions tend to be mid-term focused – at least until the end of the current budget cycle. Faculty-driven solutions tend to be long-term focused – at least until their retirement.

In a perfect world, our education system would ensure our intellectual future by filling classes with students eager to learn. In an imperfect world, education is treated solely as a business with bureaucrats eagerly cutting corners in the name of the bottom line. Economic realities suggest the solution lies somewhere between these two extremes — and Dr. StrangeJob has a plan.

I call upon all disgruntled teachers, students and administrators to vote for Dr. StrangeJob for Premier of Cape Breton! This group, which I affectionately refer to as Broken Class Voters, can make a difference. It is a simple three-part plan: administration must eliminate superfluous and redundant positions, faculty must stop protecting incompetent teachers and students must show up and focus on learning.

The alternative is the status quo. The government’s recently announced plan to fill 139 educational positions by September may sound like a good start, but it is likely a vote grab. I don’t know how many of those new positions will be liberal arts positions, but I am willing to bet that all of them will be Liberal positions.